M’sian labour standards going obsolete

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/87240

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Aug 4, 08 5:03pm

Malaysian labour standards are becoming increasingly irrelevant as multinational corporations (MNCs) impose their own codes of conduct on contracted suppliers to ensure compliance with international labour and environmental standards. MCPX As such, warned labour activists, the government must dedicate resources to prepare local small and medium industries to come up to those international standards – or risk losing business altogether. “The Ministry of Human Resources must do more capacity-building programmes to enable companies to reach such requirements as are now being imposed by MNCs,” said labour activist and Klang member of Parliament Charles Santiago when contacted. “Big brands no longer care whether you comply with local laws or not, because these MNCs have their own codes of conduct which you have to agree to in order to be their contract supplier. “If you don’t agree to their code of conduct, you’ll simply lose your contract. It’s as simple as that. If this goes on, Malaysia is going to lose billions of ringgit from the loss of clientele,” he said. He cited the plan by the European Union earlier this year to ban Malaysian seafood exports after a check revealed several did not fulfill EU health standards. It would have led to losses in billions of ringgit in seafood exports. The Malaysian government pre-empted the move by suspending all 46 exporters until they had determined ways to ensure the EU standards were met. A more recent example, said Santiago, is sports apparel giant Nike Inc’s move to put a ‘red alert’ on one of its Malaysian factories for violating its Nike Code of Conduct. Kuala Lumpur-based Hytex Integrated Bhd was reportedly accused of ‘garnishing’ the wages of its foreign workers, who were said to suffer from “unacceptable living conditions” and whose passports are withheld. Nike, it was reported, may pull out of Hytex Integrated Bhd, a Kuala Lumpur-based garment manufacturer, unless remedial efforts are taken to correct the abuses. Damaging report The announcement by the Portland, Oregon-based, Nike was made following a damaging report on Hytex by Australia’s Channel 7. Reportedly earning a meager daily wage of RM22.8, partly due to deductions ordinarily borne by companies, the foreign workers – whose passports were held by the company – were also said to living in 26 workers-per-room dormitories and in squalid conditions. Another social auditor, however, described Channel 7’s report as “only the tip of the iceberg”, as worse working and living conditions could be found in scores of other factories supplying products to international brand names. “Many of these companies are paying their foreign workers RM18 to RM22 on a normal working day which could be 12 hours long,” said the corporate social responsibility auditor on condition of anonymity. It is also common practice in all the industries for companies to hold the passports of their foreign workers, impose a prohibitive fee for those that seek to ‘borrow’ such travel documents, and to make wage deductions for purposes of the work permits issued by the Immigration Department, she said. Such practices, in addition to the lack of enforcement and corruption pertaining to other labour offences, have resulted in poor compliance generally “Many companies are proud of their products being awarded such quality management and data quality certifications as ISO1800 and ISO9000. “It’s high time they become more concerned with social and environmental compliance, because that’s where most of the problems lie,” she added.